Title: “Soil Information as a Reforestation Decision-making Tool and its Implication for Forest Management in the Philippines”

Speaker: Ian A. Navarrete (Department of Environmental Science, Ateneo de Manila University)

Date & Time: March 27 (Wed.), 2019 13:00 – 14:30
Venue: Tonantei, 2F Inamori Foundation Building
Language: English

Facilitator: Mario Lopez

Abstract:
The Philippine government has devoted a considerable amount of resources to the rehabilitation and reforestation of degraded forest land. However, deforestation and forest degradation have continued to be a major environmental problem in the Philippines as vast forest cover is lost annually. While large-scale reforestation projects have been initiated, most have been far from successful. This presentation argues that soil is the single most important factor affecting survival, growth, and development of trees and thus, influence the success of reforestation programs. Within the context of the Philippines, this presentation introduces and analyzes soil factors that limits the success of reforestation projects and discusses the use of exotic and native tree species in reforestation. Finally, it presents current research and development efforts to reforest degraded forest land, particularly the National Greening Program (NGP), and the role of the reforestation program on soil carbon sequestration in the Philippines.

Bio:
Ian A. Navarrete is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Soil Science at the Department of Environmental Science, School of Science and Engineering, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines. He obtained both his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (Soil Science) and Master of Science (Soil Science) from Visayas State University, Leyte, Philippines. He finished his Master in Agro-Environmental Science from Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine (Japan) and Ph.D. from the United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Iwate University (Japan). He is a recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship at the Institute of Soil Science, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (Germany). He is also a practicing farmer and has his own farm in Leyte, the Philippines.